Monday, November 28, 2005

Honors even

Give it up for SA -- they gave this defense all they had; in the end, India survived a searching pace examination, and got home to a 2-2 result against the world's number two side. (That the series levelling win has come without needing tailormade conditions is a bonus, if only considering much of the critical comment that has been heard on the sidelines).An overall resume this season of 8 wins to 3 losses is something Rahul Dravid can take with him into the planned review meeting the BCCI has said it will hold at the end of the Sri Lanka and RSA tours.The final phase of the game saw only the one relatively minor hiccup of Dhoni failing his own personal examination against the short pitched deliveries; by then, however, the task had almost become a no-brainer, more so because Dravid seemed to have set out his stall with the express intention of batting his team home.A tangential benefit for the Indians has been the four matches of hard 'practise' against a high-quality seam attack; an experience that comes in very handy for what awaits them (once they get past the distraction, really, of three Tests against Lanka) in Pakistan, and then against England at home.Time to head to work; will, much later in my day, see you guys back on blog.